November 2004 - (Inter Pares) November 2003 was election time in Guatemala, and the country was at a crossroads. Running for President was former General Ríos Montt, whose dictatorship in the early 1980s was one of the darkest periods in the 36-year long war that devastated the country. The army's scorched earth policy forced hundreds of thousands to flee, as their villages were burned to the ground, and their family members, friends and neighbours massacred. Genocide was perpetrated against the indigenous population, and women were the targets of specific forms of violence, including rape.

For many Guatemalan women, the prospect of Ríos Montt returning to power in the 2003 elections was intolerable. And so they came together, rural and urban women, indigenous and ladinas, community organizers, artists, musicians, and poets, to launch an educational campaign, Nosotras las Mujeres (We the Women), to lay bare the history of militarized violence in Guatemala, as well as Ríos Montt's own particular role. They unfurled banners "No more rivers of blood", they marched, they made radio announcements, they wrote newspaper columns, challenging all Guatemalans to remember their history, to commemorate their dead and why they died, and to say, in one voice, "never again". Their message spread to every corner of the country. When Ríos Montt made a campaign stop in the northwestern region of Ixcán, which saw some of the worst violence during the war, protesters against his visit held Nosotras las Mujeres banners up high. These images were then reproduced in the national media. People murmured in amazement, 'Look at these women, at what they are doing, what they are saying."

Ríos Montt lost the election, polling barely 11 per cent of the vote. Several months later, in a cramped office in Guatemala City, Inter Pares staff sit and talk with some thirty members of Nosotras las Mujeres. The group is relieved by the election results, but they are also concerned by some of the actions of the new government, and are determined to keep this non-partisan political space alive, to continue to exercise their rights as citizens and hold their government accountable.

In our conversation with these women, some of them dear colleagues we have known for many years, we are reminded of Inter Pares' role in accompanying Guatemalan women over the past two decades as they have struggled to overcome histories of exclusion and to open spaces in which to organize and make their voices heard. Nosotras las Mujeres would not have been possible without these struggles, and Inter Pares is privileged to have been present as these women have organized, changed, grown stronger, creating together the possibility of a future free of violence, injustice and exclusion.

Inter Pares was present in the refugee camps in Mexico in the early 1980s, when Guatemalan refugee women came together to meet the basic needs of their communities – nutrition, health care, education – and to ensure that their voices were heard in decision-making. We accompanied these women as they returned home to Guatemala and struggled with the daily grind of building communities anew. We supported returnee women, and women who had never left Guatemala, in their struggles for land, livelihoods and voice. We supported indigenous women in their efforts to create their own organizations that respond to their needs and interests. And in 2003, several returnee women accompanied us to the border regions of Thailand and Burma, to talk with Burmese refugee women about their experiences in exile and in returning home. Their courage and strength gave hope to Burmese women who are engaged in their own struggle against war and militarization.

The relationships we have formed over this long history are deep and enduring, and our continuing presence in the turbulent postwar period in Guatemala is valued by our counterparts and colleagues. When wars end, peace does not magically appear. The struggle to overcome deep-seated structures of violence to create the conditions for peace, including justice, equity, tolerance and reconciliation, is a long one. Our commitment must also be long-term.

As our meeting winds down and we step out together into the cool evening, we hear the echoes of many voices from throughout the years, and the laughter from shared journeys that shaped our lives. Together we remember a future for Guatemala, where, as one of the Nosotras las Mujeres banners reads, there is "no more violence in my country or my home."

From: http://www.interpares.ca/en/publications/bulletins/html/bul-nov_2004/page3.php